


I don't know anything about Accel World, not even a millimetre!

by Tusjecht



Series: The Accelerated World [1]
Category: Accel World
Genre: Angst, Deconstruction, Family Issues, Friendship/Love, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-05-25 18:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6205177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tusjecht/pseuds/Tusjecht
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a new school, Gunsou struggles to fit in without his best friend, until a girl begs him for his help and gives him a mysterious program. Far from helping him, Gunsou is thrown into a world of high tension duels with stakes he doesn't understand. Will he save himself and uninstall Brain Burst, or stand up for others? What surprises await him? An original story with no canon characters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be honest. I thought Accel World's highest point was when it finished its introduction in Episode 5, when Haruyuki and Takumu had a fight, understood each other, and resolved to make amends. And then afterwards, the story slowly slipped towards the bottom of the well for ideas, introducing new girls, Chrome Disaster, and Noumi Seiji. Even if Kawahara had planned everything out, I still feel animosity at some of the choices he made, linking every new character to Nega Nebulas, making them important and powerful, and tying all of them to Haruyuki in one way or another. Why did Haruyuki have to be handed girl after girl when he was still struggling to accept Kuroyukihiime's advice? Why did they have to make Noumi Seiji some sort of perverted bastard child when a regular bully would have sufficed? Questions like these made me think about the question Accel World was trying to ask, and attempting to answer: to what extent should real-life matter when it comes to an online game?
> 
> Mirishira Accel World is not a Fix Fic. It is not an attempt to build a successful harem, it will never try to raise a hero no one needed in the first place to topple Kings and conquer enemies. In deconstructing Accel World, perhaps we will discover what made it beautiful, what made it great: a simple story of a boy overcoming the struggles that weigh him down, and how the people around him make or break him in the process.

**Friday, April 1, 2039 AD**

* * *

"...and with that, I warmly welcome the new first-years to Mitsukihara Middle School! Class lists will be sent in a moment, and I trust that you will enjoy growing up into young men and women in this interconnected world!" The Student Council President finished his speech, and bowed slightly to his audience. Light applause followed as a sea of fresh faces nodded and clapped politely.

One boy in particular was hardly paying attention to the Student President's speech. As soon as the 'New Mail' icon lit up in the corner of his vision, he tapped on what appeared to be empty air. The Neuro Linker he wore around his neck responded swiftly, opening up the welcome letter sent to all new students. Gunsou Kihara skipped through everything else and went straight for the class lists, swiping downwards as fast as he could while scanning for his name. When he reached the bottom, he blinked in disbelief and his shoulders slumped.

He turned to a girl with radiant red hair seated besides him. "Misawa," he groaned, "We're not in the same class…"

"Oh, come on," she said, "It's not the end of the world!" Misawa reached over and scrolled through the list: 'Kitamura, Misawa' was placed under Class 1-A, and 'Kihara, Gunsou' had been placed in Class 1-B.

"Look, we're neighbours again! What a coincidence, haha!" she grinned, "Stop moping about it. There's some other people from our old school here too… Hey, isn't this the weirdo guy from G class…?"

Gunsou was barely listening. In his mind, the gods were laughing at him somewhere.

...

The day passed in typical forgettable fashion. The teacher was uninteresting, the girls were chatty, and the boys without friends stayed quiet. Gunsou made a note of the assigned readings - all twenty pages of it - and decided to go grab a snack from the canteen. Although he had only been given 500 yen for lunch, he had saved up some of his own money just in case he wanted some comfort food. All the stores were open and decorated with colourful banners, welcoming the new students, but he took little interest in them.

"Good afternoon... I would like, a... Uh, one warm beancurd please."

The aged stallholder smiled warmly, and scooped out a bowl of piping hot dessert for Gunsou. As he carefully brought the bowl back to an empty table, he briefly recalled his first day at elementary school: when a tall, reassuring figure had held his hand and bought him breakfast in school. After buying coffee for himself, he had shared a bowl of beancurd just like this with the young, 6-year-old Gunsou...

His hands curled into a fist. "No," he muttered to himself, "You're gone."

Pushing that old memory away, Gunsou began to eat, but then a shadow fell across his face and his food.

"Hello! Are you from my class? May I sit here?" A bright, cheery voice asked. Realising it wasn't Misawa, Gunsou glanced upwards: a girl. Smiling politely, her hair in a side ponytail and tied with a flower decoration. Gunsou seemed to recall that she was from his class this afternoon, but couldn't remember her name for the life of him.

"...Yeah, I am. Err.. Go ahead, there's no one sitting here."

In fact, the canteen only had a handful of people apart from the girl and Gunsou. Of all the empty tables that were available, this girl had picked his one. Why? Gunsou kept his eyes down, not really wanting to have to entertain a conversation.

An awkward moment passed. "...Uh, so," the girl said, "Which school were you from?"

"Hamada Elementary." Gunsou replied, "It's close to where I live."

"Oh? Isn't that on the other side of town?" She asked.

Gunsou shook his head. "No it isn't, you're probably confusing it with another school. A lot of them have merged or changed names; it might be confusing."

The girl nodded in understanding. "Ahh, I'm sorry about that. I'm not quite familiar with the city yet, because I just moved here from Hokkaido last year."

Gunsou nodded silently. _I'm not going to pretend I know any better than her_ , he thought.

"Ah- I haven't introduced myself!" she giggled nervously. "I'm Mikiseki. Gekkagawa Mikiseki. N-Nice to meet you...?"

"Kihara," Gunsou said. "I'm Gunsou Kihara. Nice to meet you too."

"'Kihara'? How do you write that?" Mikiseki asked.

"Well, um..." Gunsou thought, "You just take the word for 'tree' and 'source' and put them together for my family name. And my first name is just the words for 'group' and 'strength.'"

Mikiseki traced the letters in midair. "Kihara... Gunsou... That's a nice name you have there! Your parents were very thoughtful people, weren't they?"

Gunsou felt his cheeks colour a little. "Y-Yeah, they were."

A moment passed. Gunsou looked from side to side, wondering if he should say something. "H-Hey, what about your name-?"

He never got to finish his question. Just as he spoke, a familiar figure appeared besides them. "Oi, Gunsou!" Misawa snapped, "I thought you were going to meet after class!"

"I was hungry!" Gunsou said, "And you didn't reply my text or anything, so..."

"Oh well, it's fine," Misawa sighed, and eyed the half-eaten cup of beancurd. "I'm taking the rest, then!"

Mikiseki watched wide-eyed at the casual manner in which Misawa sat down next to Gunsou, and asked, "Are you two... friends?"

"Yeah," they replied together. "This dude over here," Misawa jerked a thumb towards Gunsou, "Lives next to me. We went to elementary school together."

"Ah, so you must be real close then! I have a few childhood friends too, but unfortunately they're all back home..." Mikiseki said sadly.

"'Back home?'" Misawa asked, "Did you move here from somewhere?"

Mikiseki smiled fondly. "Yes! I moved here from Hokkaido just a few months ago..."

The girls erupted into noisy chatter while Gunsou mourned his empty bowl. Not that he really minded, but he had bought it with his savings. He propped his chin on his hand and stared out the window for what seemed like an age, on the first evening of the school year.

...

"So, Gunsou, how was school?"

Her fingers poked at what appeared to be empty air as she spoke, tapping numbers and names into a spreadsheet. Gunsou's mother, Mayumi Kihara, sat across from him on the dining table while they finished up their simple dinner.

"Uh... Good, I guess," Gunsou said. "The teachers seem friendly. They talk to everyone."

Mayumi snorted. "They're doing their job, Gunsou. Every teacher has to make their class score well in the exams. They will be friendly, they will help you with homework, they'll do anything short of writing the answers themselves because it's so difficult now. Trust me, I was your age once and I know what it feels like. Listen to them, ask them questions, get a head start! Make me proud and get some good results, won't you?"

Gunsou rolled his eyes. Every night during dinner, his mother would without fail remind him that she 'knew' what it was like to be a teenager, and therefore should listen to her advice on what to do in life. He didn't want her advice now when he had no need for it, and especially when it wasn't particularly useful advice to begin with.

She swiped through the air to close her work, and removed a white Neuro Linker from her neck. "Goodness, using this thing gives me headaches. Aren't you lucky you got one of those when you were born?" She pointed at Gunsou's Neuro Linker, still on his neck. "In my time, we had no high-tech gadgets like that! We were still using landlines for the Global Net connection, mind you. Don't you think you're lucky?"

Gunsou swallowed a mouthful of food in silence and nodded his head. Mayumi looked on her son with a look of approval, and patted his head.

"Eat, enjoy your mother's cooking. It's rare I get to cook at home, or at least not since your _father_ left..." she nearly spat out the word. Gunsou's skin crawled and his stomach lurched. This was another one of those evenings. He had no excuses that could free him from the dining table. As quickly as he dared, Gunsou reached for the remaining porridge and began to gulp it down.

Mayumi sighed and drew her head back. "You know, your father asked me to pay the bills myself again. Look at this!" she gestured at the Neuro Linker, "This morning, knowing full well I have to fetch you to school, he decided to send me yet another reminder to use our joint account to pay. But didn't I tell you before? I contributed all the money in that account. What right does he have to call that money his, just because he made a few tiny deposits? Nothing, I say, nothing!"

The porridge was going to burn his tongue if he ate any faster. Gunsou slurped some soup and glanced at the clock: 8:00PM.

His mother threw up her hands in exasperation. "I did so much for your father, and this is how he repays me. Tell me, Gunsou, did your mother do anything to deserve this?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, I guess." Just as he put down the bowl of soup, Gunsou's mind suddenly realised the grave error he had made.

"What did you _say_?" Mayumi snarled. Gunsou's hands trembled, and his spoon fell to the table with a clatter.

"No, I mean, I didn't mean to say that, I was-" he stammered. But then The Volcano had erupted: Mayumi stood up, knocking her chair over.

"'Yeah?' You mean I _do_ deserve this?!" she shrieked, "Who do you think you are?!"

"Mum, I'm sorry!" Gunsou cried, "I was, uh, I wasn't-"

"How dare you side with him! I'm your _mother_ , do you understand? Everything I do is for your welfare, and you- repay- me- with such- ungratefulness-"

 _Slap, slap, slap_. With every word, Mayumi hit her son with her palm. _Slap, slap_ , she knocked him off his chair.

"OUT!" she screamed, "GET OUT!"

Gunsou scurried out the door, not even bothering to put on shoes. A mighty _WHAM!_ shattered the night, and then all was still and quiet again.

He slowly got to his feet, shaking. A fear of not being able to return home lingered, but his hands slowly clenched into fists.

 _I messed up,_ he thought. _Should have listened more carefully to her._

_And none of this would have happened if Dad hadn't left us._

His fingernails dug into his palms and he ground his teeth. In his head, Gunsou began to count: _One, two, three, four._ He slowly released his clenched fists.

 _Five, six, seven, eight_. He relaxed his jaw, and took deeper breaths.

 _Nine._ The world is not going to end tonight. Everything is going to be alright.

_Ten._

He clasped his hands and cracked his knuckles. Gunsou looked at his front door again; while the door lock merely required his passcode to open, he wasn't entirely sure if it was okay to go back.

Fortunately, there was another option. He looked to his left, at a wooden door decorated with paper flowers. They were dusty, but the bright colours and glitter danced in the light, beckoning him to knock. When he was sure that he was calm, Gunsou brought his hand up to touch the doorbell.

There was no noise, of course, when he touched it. Doorbells today transmitted a notification to the occupant's Neuro Linker. And barely a second later, the door swung open.

A familiar sight warmly greeted his eyes. "What's up?" Misawa asked.

"Err..." Gunsou stammered, "I think... I think you heard it."

"Damn right I did. Come on in and let's hear about your FU." Leaving the door open, Misawa spun around and headed inside. Dusting his feet on the doormat, Gunsou hurried inside and gently closed the door.

...

"...And that's why I'm out here," Gunsou threw up his hands, "I messed up."

Misawa, on the other hand, was muffling her laughter into a blanket. "You had it coming, honestly. You wanna bet she's going to disown you the next time?"

"Misawa!"

"I'm kidding."

The two children were in Misawa's room. It was lit with soft yellow light from her bedside lamp, where Misawa was lying down. Gunsou was sitting on the floor, a cup of warm water besides him. Around him, the walls were decorated with drawings, posters of singers and boy bands, and next to the lamp itself was Misawa's apple-red Neuro Linker, charging on its dock.

Her room was playground, study room, and now sanctuary. As a child, Gunsou had often been left to be babysat by Misawa's mother, and naturally Misawa became his best friend. He would bet no small sum that he had played more in her room that he had in his. In fact, his room was right next to hers, separated by a rather thin wall. They used to knock gently before their bedtime to tell the other it was their bedtime.

"Honestly, Gunsou, there's nothing you can do except to apologise. It was your fault you didn't listen, this isn't the first time even! Your mother is mad and you have to not do that." Misawa said.

Gunsou nodded. "I know. And... Well, sorry for telling you this, I guess."

"Don't worry," Misawa waved her hand dismissively, "I'm happy you came over, in fact! Can you help me with something?"

"What is it?"

Misawa reached into her drawer and pulled out a bottle. Shaking it, it appeared to be filled with a dark fluid.

"Help me dye my hair."

After fifteen minutes of fumbling with the plastic glove, spreading the dye poorly, and nearly dropping the bottle at one point, Gunsou finally got the hang of dyeing hair. He carefully combed the dye across her scalp, making sure it was evenly distributed, and then used the brush to spread it up. With gloves of her own, Misawa spread the dye to the ends of her radiant red hair, until it was uniformly black.

Apparently, her teacher had disapproved of her in her very first lesson, and told her 'to mind the way she attired herself.' Nothing else was wrong with Misawa's uniform, so the only explanation was that he was offended by her natural hair colour. And even though the principal himself had no particular objection, he had eventually supported his colleague when Misawa brought up the matter to him. This left her with no choice but to dye her hair.

Trying to take her mind off the subject, Misawa asked Gunsou, "So, who was that girl you were talking to earlier?"

"Huh? Oh, um," Gunsou said, "She's a classmate, I think. I don't really know her that much."

"She laid out half her life story before us, and you don't really know her that much?" Misawa snarked. "Does deafness run in your family?"

"I was actually wondering how much could I charge you for stealing my beancurd."

"Your head is about as empty as the bowl afterwards, I swear," Misawa scoffed. "She told us she moved from Hokkaido, and has hardly any friends here. She thought she recognised you at first, but it turned out to be a mistake."

"Uh huh." Gunsou carefully moved the comb through a knot of hair. "No wonder she wanted to sit with me."

"Sure the name 'Mikiseki' doesn't ring any bells? Hmm?"

"No, I don't know her," Gunsou huffed, "I've never seen her before in my life."

"If you said you never heard her, I'd believe you." Misawa quipped. She giggled as Gunsou bopped her on her shoulder in retaliation.

"What kind of a name is 'Mikiseki' anyway?" he said, "It's so weird! Doesn't sound like any kanji we've learnt."

"Ah, she said so earlier too. Her family name is written as 'River Under the Moon,'" Misawa traced the words in midair, "And her first name is basically, 'Beautiful Miracle.' Someone either sucks at naming girls, or has really high hopes pinned on her."

"Strange indeed," Gunsou shrugged. "Alright, that's the last of it. Just left with the ends..."

As he put aside the empty bottle, he caught a strong whiff of the chemical dye and wrinkled his nose. "I'm going to miss your old hair, Misawa," Gunsou said.

"Me too." she murmured softly.

Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Gunsou could hardly recognise his childhood friend. The black hair was still wet with dye and left streaks on his forearms. It reached down to Misawa's shoulders and threatened to make a mess of the white towel she had put over her shoulders.

"That's all, thanks for helping me out. You'd better get back," Misawa added, as she glanced at the bathroom clock. "It's almost your bedtime."

Gunsou nodded and yawned. The fatigue was straining his back with the prolonged period of standing. He tugged off the plastic glove and tossed it into the dustbin, but something tugged at his mind before he could leave.

"Misawa, I..." he began. This close to her, he momentarily forgot what he was about to say as he locked gazes with her warm brown eyes.

"Umm... Thank you, I-I'm really grateful you were here to listen to me. I-I'll try to talk to her later, okay-?" he stammered.

Misawa gently patted his shoulder. "It's alright. Everything's going to be okay," She said as she smiled softly. Her warm hand squeezed his shoulder tightly.

...

The house was dark when he entered. Gunsou sniffed - he caught a hint of cheap Sapporo beer.

His mother was asleep in her room, the moonlight falling across her face. An empty can dangled precariously from her fingertips. Moving on autopilot, Gunsou carefully plucked the can from her grasp and left to toss it in the trash can. Another empty can was already inside it.

Going back to his mother's room, his throat suddenly felt dry. What should he say? Would his mother even be in the mood to listen to his apology? What if she was actually dead drunk?

He resolved to do the next best thing: closing her curtains, he adjusted the air conditioner and pulled her comforter over her. As bravely as he could, he said in a small voice, "Goodnight, Mum."

If she heard it, there was no indication that she did. Gunsou left her room to go shower and get ready for bed.

The time was 10:30PM when he laid down in on his squeaky spring mattress. _Would she be awake,_ he wondered. He brought up his knuckles and knocked softly on the wall: two knocks, a pause, and then two more knocks. _Goodnight, Misawa._

Three seconds passed before three knocks sounded. _Tap, tap tap._

_Goodnight, Gunsou._

Gunsou smiled. He turned over and closed his eyes.

...

**to be continued.**

...


	2. Brain Burst

 

**Tuesday, April 12, 2039 AD**

* * *

A week had passed since school had begun. The boring routine of lessons had begun to set in for Gunsou, and as the teacher droned on during one such period, he opened a simple drawing program and began to sketch. Gunsou was no artist, obviously. But as he started off with a lazily-drawn oval, he blinked, then filled in the oval with a honeycomb pattern. A tap here, filling in the cells with colour, and Gunsou finished. He thought it looked like the shell of a tortoise, and reached to add more detail to it.

"...unsou?"

He blinked. The whole class was staring at him with an awkwardly outstretched hand! In the front, the Science teacher, Mrs Yukizuka frowned severely and brought a hand up to her glasses.

"First-year student Gunsou Kihara," she said in a nasal voice, "What is the the name of the experiment that disproved the plum pudding model of the atom?"

"Err, uh," Gunsou stammered as he quickly glanced at his notes. Mrs Yukizuka's eyebrows drew so close together that they looked like they might spontaneously fuse. "The... The Rutherford gold-foil experiment."

"Obviously it is," she said, looking away after a second. "Now, the analysis of the results was the foundation for our modern understanding of the atom..."

Gunsou sighed in relief. He should really stop this bad habit of his; first his mother, now his teacher. Who knows what would happen if he continued...

 _Ding!_ A notification popped up in the corner of his vision; someone had sent him a message! Clicking on it, Gunsou opened it and read:

[Mikiseki]: _Hey, are you okay?_

Gunsou's eyes widened and he glanced towards Mikiseki's seat. A few tables away, the petite girl was looking over at him, concern written all over her expression. When he blinked, Mikiseki's gaze flicked from side to side, before she turned back to look at Mrs Yukizuka. Wondering why exactly she would text him in class, Gunsou slowly typed in his reply.

[Gunsou]: _Yeah, I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about._

[Mikiseki]: _Okay. Pay attention in class, will you?_

' _You sound an awful lot like my mother,_ ' Gunsou thought. He slid his chair in and sat a little straighter, staying that way until class ended.

...

"Do you play games, Gunsou?" Mikiseki asked.

The two of them were having lunch at a table with their classmates. While everyone was having a fun time eating, drinking, and fooling around with their friends, Mikiseki sat close to Gunsou while they ate quietly.

"Games? Er... Not many," Gunsou lied. "I play some music rhythm games though, y'know, those where you have to tap the buttons in time with the music."

"Oh, I see! Those sure look hard to play, though!" she said. Although her tone was casual, her expression didn't quite seem to match her words. To Gunsou, it sounded like one of those questions his mother asked to get him to reveal something. He figured there was no harm if he told a white lie:

"...But during the holidays, I tried a few multiplayer games, I guess. It was really hard and I gave up after trying a little bit."

"Do you play fighting games?" she asked. Just as Gunsou was about to reply, she looked up at him, locked gazes and slowly tilted her head to the side. And then, she _winked_.

This was no friendly gesture, even if he was actually friends with her. Mikiseki smiled in such a way that made the hair of his head stand and his spine tingle a little.

"Uh, no! Not a lot, really," he said. "I actually, uh, stopped playing those because my mother didn't like me playing those games." It was technically not a lie, Gunsou had merely been told off for being interested in the advertisement for one of those games. He looked from side to side, trying to break off the conversation.

Still smiling, Mikiseki continued to hold eye contact with him until she finally seemed to relax. "Ah, I see," she said, "I'm just curious about something."

"What was that about?" Gunsou asked, "Was that some kind of interrogation or something?"

"No, no, nothing of the sort," Mikiseki continued to eat as she said, "But perhaps I can introduce to you a new game?"

Gunsou raised a single eyebrow in silence. Mikiseki took a sip of water and cleared her throat:

"It's a Full-Dive fighting game. It's new and not many people have begun playing it, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in playing."

Full-Dive was a state in which one enters the virtual world with the Neuro Linker. Gunsou was no stranger to the term, since he had played simple arcade games with Misawa, and sometimes used Full-Dive to teach himself homework. But when playing games in Full-Dive, your real body was left immobile and unreactive to external stimuli; often in the past, Gunsou had been caught playing such games when he was supposed to be sleeping.

"What is it called? Where can I see the website for it?" he said after some deliberation.

"No, you can't download it like that," Mikiseki said, "Like I said, it's new. You can only give it to other people by Direct Connection."

"D-Direct Connection?" Gunsou gaped at her, "B-By connecting to another person's... Their Neuro Linker?" Mikiseki nodded in response.

"No way!" Gunsou replied, "I don't want to! What kind of game is that?"

At his refusal, Mikiseki's shoulders drooped and she stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "You... Don't want to Direct Connect with me? Why? You don't like me?"

"B-But isn't Direct Connecting is only for family members? It's not like we know each other very well..." Gunsou trailed off. He suddenly became aware that the whole table had fallen silent. Every eye was either upon him or Mikiseki - and her eyes were slowly welling up with tears!

"What the-" he exclaimed, "Guys, this isn't what it seems like-!"

"GUNSOU AND MIKISEKI ARE FIGHTING!" someone hollered, "THEY LIKE EACH OTHER!"

Gunsou cradled his head in his hands. "Gods have mercy on me," he mumbled.

...

There were ten minutes to go before class finished. Gunsou opened up his mail and quickly wrote a message:

[Gunsou]: _Okay, fine. Please direct connect with me and send me the game._

It was more out of guilt than anything. He couldn't bear to hear the rumours that he had supposedly turned her 'confession' down and made her cry. ' _As if people confess in a crowded canteen on the first week of school!_ ' he thought.

[Mikiseki]: _Really? You'll do it?_

Gunsou hesistated for a minute. Really, was he only covering for himself, or did he actually want to play this game?

[Gunsou]: _Yes_.

They met in the school's library after class, and headed to the Recreational section. It seemed to be favoured for students who just wanted to relax and read books, because the air-conditioned space had several large beanbags, a carpet, and even a small charging dock for Neuro Linkers. Sitting down on a large green beanbag, Mikiseki reached into her pocket and withdrew a small black cable. She unravelled it and plugged one side into her Neuro Linker, and held out the other end to Gunsou.

"Hey Gunsou, I'm just curious, but do you know how to thought-speak? You know, to talk over a Connection with just your thoughts?"

Gunsou nodded. Hesitantly, he accepted the other end of the meter-long cable and connected it into his Neuro Linker's charging port. A warning popup flashed briefly, indicating he was Directly Connected to Mikiseki.

"Ah, it works!" Mikiseki 'spoke' through the connection with her thoughts. Despite having the same cadence and pitch as her spoken voice, Mikiseki's lips hadn't budged; she was probably very used to speaking like this. Gunsou still would move his lips out of habit whenever he tried to thought-speak.

"Now then, I'll give you the game to download. I promise you, it'll be something you'll _never_ forget!" Mikiseki grinned and typed into her Neuro Linker. Her fingers danced in the air, and then a window appeared in Gunsou's vision: a program called 'BB2039' was being transferred to him.

"What's the title of the game called?" Gunsou asked. He watched as the progress bar filled at a snail's pace; with today's cutting-edge technology, it would mean that the game had a really huge file size.

"It's called 'Brain Burst,'" Mikiseki said. "It's a unique fighting game that models itself after the real world. Say, you see the camera there?" She pointed at a small, nondescript, black hemisphere set into the wall of the library. It was one of a veritable million scattered throughout the country and part of the Social Security Camera system, designed to help keep the peace with a dwindling police force - or so Gunsou had read. The presence of these little black half-orbs looked like spider eyes to him, watching and recording his every move.

"What about them? Do you mean this game is made by the government?" he asked.

Mikiseki shook her head. "No, this game borrows the data of the Camera network to reconstruct its virtual reality. It can make any stage from the environment as long as you're within Japan."

Gunsou frowned. "So... You're kind of fighting in real life? Is this game safe?"

"It's a FullDive game, it's perfectly safe!" she nodded in assurance. "Don't forget that the Neuro Linker does have safeguards to protect you!"

The progress bar was only three-quarters filled. Knowing that Mikiseki could probably hear his thoughts, Gunsou kept his mind free from thoughts and fiddled with a corner of the beanbag.

Why did Mikiseki want to give him this game so badly? Was it that she wanted something from him? A nagging feeling told Gunsou that Mikiseki was keeping something from him, but what if she was going to tell him later? Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Mikiseki staring at him in an oddly intimate way. She was leaning on the beanbag, resting her head a cushion while she looked at him in the same way one might look at... at their _crush._ Her cheeks had a slight tint of colour to them, and try as he might, Gunsou couldn't hear any thoughts from Mikiseki; she was keeping her thoughts privately from Gunsou, just as he was from her.

He wondered if there was some merit to the possibility that Mikiseki was giving him this game because she wanted an excuse to get closer to him. Maybe he only looked like someone close to her in the past, and she was merely using him as a substitute. The thought made him blush momentarily and shift his seated position to face away from her. In the air-conditioned room, he sorely felt like sleeping, but the presence of an unfamiliar girl so close to him was deeply unsettling.

"It's done," Mikiseki finally said. "Now, just wait a moment... It should start soon..."

Gunsou was just about to open his mouth and ask just what 'it' was, when the room burst into flames.

* * *

 "Huh? You haven't seen Gunsou?" Misawa gaped.

The boy looked up from the table he was wiping and shook his head. "No, he and a girl left after class finished today. It's not like they're on duty to clean today either, so whatever." He shrugged and went back to his tables, while several other boys turned away from her to resume cleaning classroom 1-B.

"Where could he be..." Misawa muttered to herself. She had expected him to be somewhere outside her classroom like he had the last week, but when she finished her cleaning duties, he was nowhere to be found, and certainly not on cleaning duty either. A text she sent had gone unanswered, even though he had received it. She chewed on her tongue, wondering just where had he run off to, and left the classroom. ' _A girl, huh?_ ' she thought, _'Maybe I have an idea who she is...'_

* * *

Mikiseki frantically waved her hands to stop Gunsou from crying out in shock. "It's okay!" she said, "It's just an image. Those flames aren't real."

The initial shock wore off for Gunsou, and he slowly relaxed his shoulders. "What was that all about?"

"It's a reaction speed checker," she explained hurriedly, "The faster your speed, the better your natural aptitude at the game is. There's a lot of terms you'd need to know, and I don't know how to explain them..."

Catching sight of Gunsou's frown, Mikiseki chuckled nervously and said, "Well, it looks like it worked! Now let me teach you the first thing about this game..."

"How long will the tutorial take?" Gunsou asked, "If it's too long, can I just go home and play?"

"Tutorial? No, Gunsou, there's no tutorial for this game," Mikiseki grinned, "Just you and me. Let me teach you the voice command to start the game: ' _Burst Link_.' Come, say it with me!"

Somehow, Gunsou felt like there was no turning back from this point. But did he have anything to lose anyway?

"B-Burst Link." he stammered.

 ** _SLAM!_ ** The world turned blue and froze before his eyes!

As though a blue filter had been pasted over his eyes, everything was instantly dyed in varying shades of electric blue. Mikiseki's face and hands too, turned into a blue statue of herself on a blue beanbag. It _looked_ very cool, but how did he actually play the game?

Gunsou blinked and realised he was no longer sitting down. He was standing up, and seemed to be in his online avatar - besides a change of clothes, nothing else stood out in particular about his avatar. With the school editor, some people chose simple animals, boys took costumes of characters from fables, and girls...

Gunsou's jaw dropped when he spotted Mikiseki.

Her online avatar was _beautiful_. Her hair was long and fluttered in an unseen wind, billowing in time with her lush, leaf-green dress. With one hand, Mikiseki tilted up her wide-brimmed hat, revealing a garland of small white flowers she was wearing around her neck. Her delicate fingers played over a menu with the grace of a dancer, and in the luminscent blue world they were in, her skin shone bright like a full moon.

He was so transfixed by her appearance, he only realised he was staring when Mikiseki blinked. Coughing, he turned away. Mikiseki giggled to herself and said, "Gunsou! I can see from here that you're blushing!"

"...I'm sorry." Even in the virtual world, Gunsou couldn't bear to face her. Looking at Mikiseki was like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. Even now, his heart was still pounding; he counted to five in his head, willing himself to calm down.

"Are you okay? Mikiseki asked. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No," Gunsou finished his count and turned to look at her, "I'm okay. But, what's this blue world? Are we already in the game?"

Mikiseki shook her head. "No. We don't play in here. It's just a space to do other work, but it itself is fully half the reason the game exists." She walked around the blue mockup of the library, Gunsou following a few steps behind her.

"You see? The library has Social Security Camers within it, so every detail is mapped and rendered as part of the blue world." She said.

"Are we the only ones here? Can other people come into this space?" Gunsou prodded at some books, and discovered that they were hard and as unyielding as stone.

"Yes, and no," Mikiseki said, "The two of us are here together only because we're Directly Connected. If you and I were to 'Accelerate' at the same time, I wouldn't see you even if I was right next to you in the real world."

She continued to talk as she strolled down the library aisles. "The world has not really frozen, of course. It's a virtual environment created by the Social Security Camera. Brain Burst borrows the images taken by the Camera in real-time and uses it to create the blue world we're in. And look - only the two of us are moving here."

Gunsou followed her gaze and realised she was correct. Nearby, a boy was turning a page in his book, but the page was absolutely vertical in mid-turn. It was as though someone had hit the 'pause' button on real life. He came closer to the book, and as he stared at it, he saw the page moving, inching forwards at a snail's pace as though... As though...

"...It's not that time has frozen," he murmured to himself, "But it's faster for us? Mikiseki, what's happening?"

She smiled warmly at him; it was difficult to maintain eye contact with her beauty. "Yup, you're absolutely right! Whenever we 'Accelerate,' we're actually speeding up our mind by a thousand times. Everything else with reference to us moves a thousand times slower. Look over there at the people walking!"

It was even more apparent outside. People were frozen mid-step, their mouths open in conversation. But when Gunsou looked around, he came face-to-face with a very familiar person. Even with her raven hair, there was no mistaking her sharp features and the look of confidence Gunsou had always known her for.

Misawa was frozen in time, walking towards the entrance of the library. Her hands were lightly clenched, and when he thought long and hard about the way she was walking, he realised she was briskly walking towards the library.

"Oh darn," he gasped. His messaging app seemed to run normally even in this blue world; opening it, he realised Misawa had sent him three messages in the span of ten minutes, and he had failed to reply to all of them.

"How long does this... This state of acceleration last, Mikiseki?" he asked, "It's not going to last forever, is it?"

"That's the other half of Brain Burst, unfortunately," she nodded. "Acceleration is not free; look at the 'B' icon on your desktop, and click it. Oh, and careful, it'll play a message when you first open it-"

**[WELCOME TO THE ACCELERATED WORLD!]**

Fiery letters in a steampunk-esque font filled his vision. Thanks to Mikiseki's advice, he wasn't fazed by it, and instead concentrated on the new menu options that had appeared. At her instructions, he finally made a window materialise before him:

[Burst Points remaining: 99]

"See, it costs you Points to accelerate. Every usage of 'Burst Link' costs one Point, and other commands cost more. And the only way to earn more points back is to fight other players." she explained.

"Okay, that's cool, I guess," Gunsou said, "How and where do I start?"

"You can't." Mikiseki said flatly.

Gunsou did a double take. "What do you mean, I can't?"

"You can't play the game yet, Gunsou. You just can't. Look at your 'Profile' tab, it's blank! The game only gives you an avatar to use after tonight."

Gunsou frowned and looked back at the frozen image of Misawa. "Come on, won't a regular online avatar do as well? I said I wanted to play when I go home today!"

"No, you can't." Mikiseki's eyes glinted and she shook her head, "How many times do I have to tell you? It's just not possible! Brain Burst is a game that-"

"That what?" Gunsou snarled. His hands were shaking and he clenched them to try and stop it. "What else needs to be done, huh?"

A small part of Gunsou screamed at him to apologise and ask for forgiveness; he had no intention of being mean to Mikiseki from the bottom of his heart. But the intimidating presence of Misawa was drawing closer with every millisecond, virtual world or not.

"Let's see. You've asked me to Direct Connect to you, listen to you talking for ten minutes, and on top of that, you embarrassed me big-time in the canteen earlier!" Gunsou said, "And even now, you're telling me the game can't be played yet? What's up with that? Actually, what's up with you?"

If online avatars could sweat, Gunsou might have soaked his shirt through by now. Only adrenaline and fear drove him to keep talking, aggravating an already bad situation.

"What do you want from me?" he said. "I hardly know you at all! I don't feel like I should listen to whatever you tell me to do just because we're classmates and know each other's names?"

"Look!" she finally snapped, "I'm telling you all this so that you don't have to learn it yourself! You think this game was easy? That you won't ever lose a duel? You don't know what you're stepping into, so please listen to me! I'm telling you all this for your own good!"

Gunsou choked in derision; she _really_ did sound like his mother. "Oh? This is for my sake? Well, let me tell you something else, Mikiseki," he walked right up to her avatar and stared directly into her eyes.

It was either sheer bravery or outright fear that kept him from stuttering. Gunsou figured he had already hurt Mikiseki enough - one more bit can't hurt.

"I already know what I need to do - _uninstall this useless game!_ "

He turned on his heel and walked away. He scrolled through his menu, looking for an option to logout - and then someone caught him from behind.

"What the-!" he exclaimed as a pair of snow-white arms threw themselves around him. Realising it was Mikiseki, he instantly flushed bright red in embarrassment. "Mikiseki, what are you doing?"

"Don't," she cried, "Don't do it!"

Guilt flooded the pit of his stomach. It was impossible, and yet it was so - Mikiseki was crying! What was his mistake, and what would he have to do to apologise?

"I've only got this one chance to prove myself," Mikiseki sobbed into his back, "They won't let me play anymore if I didn't bring in someone new!"

"Who's 'they'? Why do they want you to get me to play?" A whirlwind of emotions and thoughts fought for centre stage in Gunsou's head while he tried to digest this. Mikiseki was actually being forced to invite him?

"Please, Gunsou, do what you want, but please promise me something?" Mikiseki let him go from the awkward hug, and wiped some tears from her face. They ran down her lovely face and evaporated into droplets of light. Out of confusion and regret, Gunsou turned to face her, but kept his head down and fixed his eyes on her feet. _Her avatar is barefoot_ , he realised.

"I just need you to wear your Neuro Linker for one night. Just one night is enough for you to understand, okay?" Mikiseki pleaded.

"Err, okay then, I'll-" he said.

"Promise me." Mikiseki insisted. "Pinky swear that you'll listen to me one more time today." she held out her outstretched finger, waiting for his response. Gunsou brought up his hand, but hesistated.

It didn't sound right. This was a game that apparently needed a night before it could play, somehow could use the government's Social Camera system, and grant the ability to 'accelerate' his mind, and then someone was threatening Mikiseki to get him to try it. Something didn't quite add up for Gunsou.

But as he looked at Mikiseki's tear-stained face, the pangs of regret resonated deeply within him. He was only confused and angry that she was acting so secretive about matters. If Misawa asked him for help, he would drop everything and rush to her, so why couldn't he spare some effort for Mikiseki? If only she had told him that she was under duress, he should at least try to help her!

He took hold of Mikiseki's outstretched finger with his own pinky, and gripped hers softly. "Deal," he murmured, "I'll keep it on for one night. And... I'm sorry, Mikiseki."

She nodded lightly and wiped her eyes. "No, I'm sorry that I made you misunderstand. Go on ahead if you're busy; the command to logout is called 'Burst Out.'"

The world returned to normal the instant Gunsou spoke the command. Without a second thought, he unplugged Mikiseki's cable from his Neuro Linker, and bid her goodbye. Passing a tall senior as he walked, he made it to the entrance of the library just as Misawa walked in.

"There you are!" she exclaimed, 'Where have you been? I sent you three messages asking where were you, and this is where you're holed up at? Really?"

An odd sense of relief flooded Gunsou from head to toe. "I'm sorry, Misawa," he bowed his head, "I was tired and fell asleep in the library. It would have been bad to sleep in class while the others were cleaning, so..."

The lie rolled off his tongue easily as he appeased his friend. Misawa sighed and facepalmed herself. "You're an idiot, I swear. Let's catch the bus back, then you can sleep all you want, okay?"

"Okay."

Contented that Misawa had accepted it, he walked away from the library and never looked back. Gunsou took note of the date, and made a small note for Friday in his homework diary:

[ _If BB isn't fun, delete it and DON'T tell Misawa about it._ ]

Today was Tuesday. Mikiseki's game had three more days to prove itself, or else he would give it the chop. The rest of the day was spent completing his homework at Misawa's place before he went to bed at the usual time.

Looking up at his bedroom ceiling, he thought back to when he had argued with Mikiseki, and silently cursed himself for not doing things differently. What if he asked her first what was wrong? Maybe things wouldn't be so bad. He might still be friends with that beautiful girl...

 _'Gunsou, you sly dog,'_ he thought to himself, ' _It's just her avatar; don't take it too seriously.'_

The Neuro Linker felt rather uncomfortable on his neck; with the charging cable attached, he could only sleep on his side. Gunsou reached over and gently rapped the wall: _tap-tap, tap-tap._

The reply came almost immediately. _Tap, tap, tap._

He smiled softly, and turned over and shut his eyes. The darkness of sleep overtook him soon after.

...

**to be continued.**

**...**


	3. His Duel Avatar

**Wednesday, April 13, 2039 AD**

* * *

Thunder rolled across the early morning sky, still dark and heavy with rain. Great sheets of it came in droves, and gusts of wind blew the rain into every corner of Tokyo. The sleeping Gunsou unconsciously drew his blanket closer.

It was an empty space, and Gunsou was walking. He knew not where he came from. He knew not where he was. In this space, he somehow felt like he could do anything, but he was sure that there was something here. Something he had hidden a long time ago and tried to forget about.

Gunsou turned around. He was in his room, with his new spring mattress smelling like it had just came from the store. Toys were neatly stacked in the corner and nothing was out of place. He walked out of his room and saw his mother-

Mayumi was weeping. She was sitting on the floor, legs splayed, and burying her face in a handkerchief. "Mom!" Gunsou exclaimed, "What's wrong? Mom!"

As he moved closer, she wailed loudly and tried to slap Gunsou. Dodging her pitiful flail, Gunsou looked around and immediately spotted the source of all her misery and sadness - his father. He was wearing his usual long-sleeved shirt and pants, his hand firmly grasping a luggage bursting at the seams. An unnatural look of disgust pervaded his unshaven features, which changed to one of regret when he turned to look at his son.

"...Dad? What's going on? Why are you leaving?" Gunsou asked. "What's up with your big bag today?"

"Son, I'm going for work," the older man said evenly, "Take care of your mother."

Gunsou blinked. Something was terribly wrong here, wasn't it? "Dad, Mom is sad! Can't you just go late for work? Take care of Mom!"

"No, I'm not," his fathered muttered and turned his back to Gunsou, "I've done enough, I've had enough. The money I've left will be enough, too. Bye, Gunsou."

"Dad!" Gunsou screamed, "Don't go! Don't- Go!"

He ran out of the house barefoot, chasing after his father. He crashed into the bulky luggage and tugged at his sleeve. "You gotta stay, Dad, Mom's not feeling well! Help take care of her!"

_WHAM!_

A fist from nowhere. Drove itself deep into his cheek, and flung Gunsou into the wall. He blinked, and realised he wasn't himself: he was eight years old again, his arms weak and small and defenseless. He looked up at the towering silhouette of his father; even in the dim light, it was very clear that his face was contorted with rage.

"Don't," he growled, "Ever touch me again!" He turned on his heel and disappeared.

"Dad... Daddy..." Gunsou whispered, shell-shocked and unable to think. His face hurt, someone was crying. Everything hurt, his mother was still weeping. He curled up into a ball and cradling his broken face, he murmured, "Why..."

And an incredible emotion filled his body like never before: anger. Hot, boiling, dollops of it. This was all just a dream and he was still powerless to change the past. Gunsou curled his hands into fists and beat the floor, blind to the new streaks of pain shooting up his nerves. Everything was far away, no one was with him any more.

"Why did you leave us, Dad!" Gunsou screamed, "Why did you hit me then? Why did you hurt Mom? What wrong did I do last time?!" Tears flowed down his face as he bawled.

 _I hate this_ , he thought, _everything hurts and I hate it so much. If I could protect myself back then, it would be so much better!_

**[IS THAT THE WISH YOU WANT TO MAKE?]**

_Yes!_  

When Gunsou finally stopped crying long enough to sit up, his pillow had a huge wet spot where he had cried. It was 6:30 in the morning, but the falling rain made it so much darker, as though it was at least 5 AM. Wiping his eyes on his sleeve, he shrugged and swung his legs out of bed to get up, but then something tugged at his neck.

"My Neuro Linker?" Bemused, Gunsou reached up with his free hand and pulled it off. The charging wire was still plugged in, and a green light glowed, indicating full charge. "Why did I leave it on when I went to sleep?"

He was stroking the hard plastic shell, when it all came back to him: Mikiseki - they had Direct Connected. She gave him something, told him and then begged him to keep his Neuro Linker on. It was all because of-

"Brain Burst," Gunsou said to himself, "It caused all this." Suddenly, the faded blue-green colour of his Neuro Linker looked ten times more revolting than it actually was.

"...What have I done to myself?" he whispered.

...

It was Mrs Yukizuka's lesson again in the morning. Keeping his eyes fixed on the slides she displayed, Gunsou was determined to avoid Mikiseki's hopeful glances she had been shooting him ever since he walked into class. But when the familiar icon of a new message arrived, he could no longer resist. He wanted to know too, what had happened.

[Mikiseki]: GUNSOU! Come on, won't you talk to me?

[Gunsou]: Tell me what is Brain Burst exactly first. You lied to me, it wasn't a game.

[Mikiseki]: (is typing...)

It remained that way for a full minute. _Just how much is there to Brain Burst?_ Gunsou wondered.

[Mikiseki]: Scratch that, it's easier to talk. Library Rec corner, lunch break. Come alone.

Something about the finality of 'Come alone' sent a shiver up Gunsou's spine. He dearly needed someone he could trust right now, but he had already committed to not tell Misawa about this. Would this be his undoing?

He skipped lunch entirely so as to not be seen by Misawa. Huddling at a table, he listlessly scrolled through some of the class' notes when someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind. Turning slowly, he came face-to-face with Mikiseki.

"About time," he said, "Now, are you going to tell me the truth or not?"

She remained silent. Sitting down next to him, she smoothed her skirt and brought out the same coil of wire, connecting one end to her Neuro Linker. Her hand trembled when she gave Gunsou the other end.

"Mikiseki?" Gunsou asked, trying to soften his voice a little, "Is everything alright?"

She shook her head innocently and said, "No, everything's fine." When Gunsou plugged in her cable, she held up three fingers to count down.

Three, two, one. "Burst Link," They whispered together.

_SLAM!_

As soon as the world had turned blue completely, Mikiseki turned and grabbed hold of Gunsou's hands. "What's your avatar name?" she asked, "What's the first word?"

"What name? What word? You're not telling me anything useful!" Gunsou struggled to break free from Mikiseki's grip; she was surprisingly strong for her size!

"Click on the Matching List tab and see your profile again, Gunsou," Mikiseki said, "Every player had to go through what you went through last night, Gunsou, everyone. You can tell me about it later, but I want to know something now!"

The forcefulness behind her words made Gunsou falter and bow his head. He followed her instructions and brought up a new window: where it was blank yesterday, it was now filled with some details and numbers. At the very top...

"I'm... 'Turquoise Duro'?" Gunsou frowned. "What about it?"

Mikiseki raised an eyebrow. "'Turquoise?' What kind of a colour is that?"

Gunsou remained silent and glared at Mikiseki.

"Never mind, we'll get on with the next step. You wanted your tutorial? You've got one." she said.

She pressed a few option on her own menu, and a bright red button fell from the 'sky' in the same fiery steampunk animation Gunsou had seen yesterday. On its surface, the word 'DUEL!' was written in all-capital letters. Mikiseki rested her finger on this button.

"Here goes nothing, here goes everything." she muttered, and firmly pressed the control.

_SLAM!_

The world didn't unfreeze; everything faded to black as Gunsou experienced a sensation of falling. His senses slowly returned bit by bit - this was a new online avatar he was receiving and being calibrated to. His heart raced at the prospect of finally playing the game at last.

He felt his feet touch solid ground. Then his hands came to his sides as gravity took over. The scene slowly brightened as his vision was restored; he was now in what appeared to be an empty land, populated with stark white buildings as far as he could see.

**[HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!]**

Several displays fell from the sky with accompanying animations and sound effects. In the middle of his vision, a counter starting from '1800' descended. Then two bars appeared, each filling up with a large, blue bar. The left bar was named 'Turquoise Duro,' so it was probably a health gauge for himself. And the name on the right was 'Spring Renascentia.'

A short distance away, a glowing disc of light spun into existence, and then split into two rings moving up and down. Between them, what looked like a light green robot stepped out, and then turned to look Gunsou directly in his eyes. But what gave it away was the 'hair' on the robot that was a perfect match for Mikiseki's side ponytail.

**[FIGHT!]**

As soon as the flaming words cleared, Mikiseki sank to her knees. Her legs hit the pale ground with a dull 'thud' and she collapsed as though all her willpower was gone. "You aren't... No, this can't be..."

Even from this distance, there was no mistaking the robot's voice Mikiseki's moan of despair. Alarmed, Gunsou jogged over to her side, and reached out to touch her shoulder, "Mikiseki, what's wrong?"

And then he saw his own arm. A deep, profound blend of blue and green that covered himself from head to toe, Gunsou's own robot body looked less like an artificial robot than a natural creation. Under the soft light of a full moon, he cast a long shadow behind him; Gunsou estimated his new avatar to be at least twice as tall as Mikiseki's avatar was.

"My god," he breathed, "Why does this feel so normal? I've never calibrated for this avatar or anything, and yet it feels like myself!"

"I bet everything..." Mikiseki softly mumbled. Turning around, Gunsou saw that Mikiseki had gotten back on her feet. "But your Duel Avatar...it's not..."

"What is it not, Mikiseki?" Gunsou asked. "I feel ready to take on anyone! Heh."

"It's not red!" she suddenly shrieked, "You're not a ranged type at all! Look at yourself, you've got no weapons or any Armaments of the sort..."

And then she curled into a ball and began to cry. Dumbstruck, Gunsou decided to leave Mikiseki alone and inspected his surroundings; they seemed oddly familiar to him somehow.

And then he remembered something Mikiseki had mentioned yesterday, that this game used the Social Security Cameras to create the blue world. Did it just model this stage after his school's courtyard, too? He looked around and up at a tall semicircular building - it was without a doubt the counterpart of his school's library building, albeit more stylised with spires and balconies to match the architecture of this stage.

He walked up to a large glass window and examined his reflection. Once again, Gunsou was awestruck by the strangely familiar sight that his gaze beheld: clad from head to toe in blue-green armour, his avatar - Turquoise Duro - mirrored his every movement with startling accuracy. He could feel the thick, reassuring plates on his arms and their heft. A black underlayer concealed what Gunsou imagined to be thick muscle, and when he tried standing up straight, he bumped his head on the stone ceiling above with a dull _thud_ \- he felt nothing but a slight knock, but a tough ridge along his helmet gouged out a deep cut into the stone where he had hit it.

"Impressive, isn't it? You're not the type I'm looking for, but... I guess you look good."

Gunsou whirled around. Standing behind him, the light green avatar stared evenly at him, its hands clasped lightly in front of it. Spring Renascentia - or rather, Mikiseki bowed her head slightly and drooped her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Gunsou," she said at last, "but it wasn't fair for you. I placed a lot of my hopes on one chance, one bet with the program, and this is my mistake. It has nothing to do with you..." Her voice jumped an octave at the end and she raised a hand to wipe her eyes, but Mikiseki held onto her composure.

"What's that all about? I've got no clue about what you're saying," Gunsou said. He tried to speak softly, but his voice came out as a deep rumble that he felt within his chest, surprising the two of them with its depth. Mikiseki raised an eyebrow before she coughed.

"I forgot to tell you yesterday: you can only distribute Brain Burst once when you're a 'second-generation.' A few weeks ago, a guy I knew randomly received the program out of nowhere, with no explanation whatsoever. He discovered this game and how to fight, how to duel others. And when he had duelled and earned enough Burst Points to level up, he was granted the ability to pass Brain Burst onto as many children as he wanted. That person is..." Mikiseki trailed off. She stared up at Gunsou, as though contemplating something.

"...Never mind, you'll know later. But like I said, since I'm not one of those kids who got it first, I'm considered his 'Child' and he is my 'Parent.' There aren't any rules written down, but he taught me the basics, just like what I'm teaching you," she stretched out a hand towards Gunsou, "But would you listen to me? Will you listen to me, please?"

The quaver in Mikiseki's voice did not escape Gunsou's notice. "T-Tell me what's wrong, Mikiseki," he said, "I think there's something strange about this. Why did want want to give me this game so much?"

Mikiseki stepped closer to Gunsou. "I... I'm not good," she breathed, "I'm not good at this game, I can't duel by myself, and even when I fight together with him, I end up giving him more trouble!" she cried, "Now he's going to take Points from me until I lose the game!"

"Well, what happens then?" Gunsou asked, "What's the big deal if you lose?"

Mikiseki's yellow eyes flared fiercely. "When you lose all your Burst Points, you can never use Brain Burst anymore. I've seen someone lose all his Points; he didn't disappear like they normally do, they _die._ We've never seen him online since that day; what if you lose Brain Burst forever when you run out of Points?" she hissed.

"And now, I'm going to end up like that person! If I don't make myself useful, then it's all over! _He_ knows who I am and which class I'm in, _he_ could challenge me continuously until I run out of Points and die! I don't want to die!" Wrapping her arms around herself, Mikiseki dug her fingernails into herself as tears began to fall.

As he slowly began to grasp the situation, a deep sympathy welled up inside Gunsou's heart and he looked down at the crying girl. The feeling of not wanting to lose something was not unlike the need to be with someone precious. At a loss of what to say, Gunsou decided to let his actions speak for himself; he stepped forwards and pulled Mikiseki into a hug.

She gasped briefly, stiffening up as the huge arms of Turquoise Duro encircled her small frame, but she quickly relaxed and hugged Gunsou back. Her head only came up to Duro's chest height, and Gunsou marveled at the curious warmth of Mikiseki's cheek against his heart. Was it his imagination, or did the fragrance emanating from Spring Renascentia smell of Mikiseki too?

"I don't know what to say or do, Mikiseki," Gunsou finally said, "But if there's one thing I know, it's that everything is going to be alright. Trust me."

"If you say so, then I believe you," she mumbled into his chest. Letting go of Gunsou, they broke their embrace. As Mikiseki stared in adoration up at Gunsou, his cheeks flushed red and he turned away, all of his courage from mere moments ago evaporating into thin air.

"So, um," he tried to steer the conversation away, "What's next?"

Mikiseki shook her head. "There's nothing," she said, "I didn't think about getting this far. I'll just send you a request to draw, and then we'll meet... _him._ "

Gunsou shivered slightly. Mikiseki tapped on empty air for a few moments before a game window appeared before him:

**[DO YOU AGREE TO DRAW?]**

_Yes._

...

The world returned to normal for the two children. Students were browsing books, some were busy typing on virtual keyboards, and everyone was completely unaware of the brief, intimate moment shared between Gunsou and Misawa. Exchanging glances, Gunsou's face reddened slightly and he scooted away from Mikiseki. Now that he knew a little more of the troubles she was facing, Gunsou was afraid. He didn't regret receiving the game, but he couldn't say the same for having met Mikiseki.

In the middle of this mental conundrum, someone appeared right next to Gunsou and firmly rapped him over the head with her knuckles.

"Ow!" Wincing, Gunsou looked up and instantly wished he hadn't. With her folded arms and raised eyebrows, Misawa looked to him like she might turn into his mother any moment and deliver a tight slap across his face. Her hair was even as black as his mother's!

"Whatcha' doing?" Misawa asked in a falsely cheery voice, "I realised you didn't come down for lunch, so I thought I'd come and see if you were okay. Is everything alright, Gunsou?" Her eyes lingered on the little black cable connecting Gunsou and Misawa.

Swiftly unplugging the cable, Gunsou tossed the end aside. "N-Nothing!" he spluttered, "Everything's okay, Mikiseki and I were just, er, um, playing a game together! You know, two-player games! Isn't that right, Mikiseki?" he turned towards her and begged with his expression, hoping that she would help him out-

Nothing. Mikiseki crossed her arms, pursed her lips, and looked away at the window. "Mikiseki!" Gunsou pleaded, "C'mon, show her the game, prove we weren't doing anything wrong!"

"Be quiet, Gunsou, this is a library." Mikiseki said with all the warmth of a freezer. And then she muttered, "You're such an _idiot_.."

"B-But, what, why?" Gunsou stammered. With every passing second, Misawa was looking less and less impressed, and Mikiseki was looking like a boiling rice cooker. Her jaw was visibly clenched and her face was slowly reddening in scarlet shame. But why?

"Oh, hello Mikiseki. Didn't expect to see you here. And who are these?"

A newcomer appeared before the trio. He was tall; Misawa was the tallest among the three of them, yet this boy was half a head taller than her. His shirt was neatly tucked into his pants, revealing a rather muscular outline. As he scratched his head, Gunsou noticed that this boy wore a navy-blue tie; he was a second-year student.

"Let me guess, Miki," he said, scratching his head, "I know you scraped your way to Level Two last week, so that you could give the program to someone. And judging from the Matching List of players that appear in our school, you managed to succeed and fail simultaneously. All because of your misguided wish to help..." he let the word hang in the air. Mikiseki visibly cringed and hunched her shoulders.

"I'm not an idiot. I knew you were up to something when you stopped trying to Tag Team with me. It's not that I wouldn't forgive you, Miki - but you just couldn't be honest with anyone, not even yourself." The boy sighed, and turned to Gunsou directly.

"My apologies. I'm Jun Ichijo," he bowed his head ever so slightly, "And I guess that you're the mess that Mikiseki has probably created... _'Turquoise Duro.'_ "

Despite his light and casual tone, Jun Ichijo stared at Gunsou with all the warmth of cold steel, and as he spoke, he reached up in a slow, deliberate motion to touch the power button of his Neuro Linker. A bright blue light lit up briefly for an instant before it began to blink.

"I want to see you. Burst Link!"

_SLAM!_

**...**

**to be continued.**

**...**


	4. Debut

"And I guess that you're the mess that Mikiseki has probably created... _'_ Turquoise Duro.'"

Despite his light and casual tone, Jun Ichijo stared at Gunsou with all the warmth of cold steel, and as he spoke, he reached up in a slow, deliberate motion to touch the power button of his Neuro Linker. A bright blue light lit up briefly for an instant before it began to blink.

"I want to see you. Burst Link!" Jun said. A fraction of a second passed, and-

_SLAM!_

The world froze and turned electric blue. But unlike earlier, the blue silhouettes of Misawa and Mikiseki besides him faded rapidly to black, as did everything else; he was probably being challenged to a duel. Was Jun fighting him, then? A tremor ran up the length of his back and chilled Gunsou to the bone, as his senses slowly returned to him. He again assumed his new blue-green persona and turned to look his surroundings-

A wet, sticky sensation enveloped Gunsou's right foot. "Ugh!" he exclaimed.

It was a puddle of water, but this was no puddle that Gunsou had ever seen before. It was bubbling and small chunks of a black substance floated in it. All around, the soft and muddy ground was dotted with potholes like these in a large rectangular clearing - it was quite clearly modelled after his school's courtyard, just like Mikiseki and he had seen. All around, trees with thick, gnarly trunks twisted and branched, and rotting vines hung everywhere. A poisonous yellow sun hung overhead, dyeing everything in a sickly glow.

A ring of bright blue light glimmered, and then sparked vigourously as it split into a large cylinder. From within, a tall blue robot dressed in what appeared to be traditional costume stepped out, but now Gunsou knew that this was no robot. He glanced at the corner of his vision where a gauge displaying Jun Ichijo's avatar named descended into place: 'Klein Apprentice.' Closely resembling Jun himself, the deep blue of the avatar more closely resembled the depths of sapphires and the ocean that Turquoise Duro's own shade of blue and green. Sweeping his hands to the side, Apprentice produced a wooden sword and flourished it with practiced ease.

"H-Hold up a second, I don't know anything about combat!" Gunsou held up the thick arms of his avatar as he backed away.

Klein Apprentice smirked and lowered the tip of his sword slightly. "Didn't Mikiseki tell you? There's no tutorial for Brain Burst!"

Without warning, Apprentice sprang forwards and lunged towards Gunsou! Frozen like a deer in headlights, he could only watch as the point of the bamboo sword flashed forwards and buried itself into his left shoulder. With a sickening THUD, it impacted and Apprentice threw his entire weight behind the sword, causing Gunsou to stagger and flail. As his shoulder sparked angrily, Gunsou took a swing at Apprentice's head, but he ducked and easily avoided his attack. He swung his sword with all his strength, smashing into the back of Turquoise Duro and receiving a satisfying CRACK in return.

"Ahhh!"

Gunsou's entire vision flashed red, and not just because of the hot, intense pain he felt radiating from his back. With every sword strike against his unprotected back, his Health Gauge was chipped away by a small amount. A small green bar below the Health Gauges of both players filled as well, though Duro's filled by a considerably smaller amount compared to Klein Apprentice's. As his eyes began to water from the pain, the pieces fell into place as he began to understand the rules of the fighting game.

He really hoped that Brain Burst did not have extra rounds in their duels.

As a large shadow loomed behind him and raised both hands, Gunsou braced himself and kicked back; his foot connected with something hard and Apprentice grunted in pain. The health gauges equalised slightly, and Gunsou rolled to the side and to his feet. Limping slightly, Klein Apprentice narrowed his eyes to slits and lunged forwards again: "Hahh!" He slashed downwards fiercely. Anticipating the attack, Gunsou sidestepped the attack and punched. A clean hit, right on Apprentice's right hand, and pushed him back a good distance away.

Puzzled, Gunsou glanced at his hands; was he so strong naturally, or did he trigger something? He didn't ever recall that his hands were so... So _large._

A distance away, Apprentice clutched his arm, wincing as broken blue bits cracked and fell to the stage. "Hey, you," he groaned, "You used a skill, didn't you? There's no way one hit can push anyone back like that!"

Equally confused, Gunsou clicked on his Gauge, wondering if the submenu had any explanation; and as it appeared, it displayed two skills available to Turquoise Duro: under a column titled 'Normal Move', an entry named «Saint's Fist» was written next to an animation showing a bunch of squiggly lines moving around his body. The other entry was named «Vault Breaker» and showed the same squiggly lines rushing to an outstretched fist together. Apparently, this was his 'Special Move.' But this was all Greek to him - he only understood that somehow, his fists and forearms had increased in size. Something on his arms moved, and as he looked closely-

 _His armour plates were moving._ As he brought up his right hand for closer examination, clenching and releasing it, blue-green plates would scuttle over his forearm and gather at his fist, and then return to their original positions. Small plates reformed into larger, thicker plates, and as he slowly closed the fingers of his left in an experiment, the large plate covering his forearm broke up into five or six small pieces that rushed to cover his hand. His armour was no mere protective suit; it was consciously protecting him wherever he needed it, or boost the strength of his attacks.

A thought occurred to Gunsou, and he gingerly felt for his cheek, a spot where he had been hurt a long time ago. It was completely protected by his helmet, and try as he might, he couldn't get it to move away. It was safe, and he would never be hurt ever again. Armed with this reassurance, he stood up straight to face Klein Apprentice and held up his hands in a defensive posture; his armour plates gathered and locked into place.

Klein Apprentice narrowed his eyes. Rather than lunge forwards, he began to circle Gunsou, coming closer with every round. The tip of his wooden sword remained just out of his arms' reach, though tantalising close.

Just as Apprentice was about to step to his right again, Gunsou reached forwards, grabbed the point of his sword, and tugged with all his strength. But rather than losing his grip, Apprentice was pulled along forwards - losing his balance and unceremoniously face-planting into the soft, rotting soil of the stage.

Gunsou abandoned all restraint. Tossing aside the wooden sword, he jumped onto Klein Apprentice and pinned him down. The two boys scuffled and rolled in the mud as Apprentice fought to free himself. Health Gauges dropped rapidly whenever they fell into shallow pools of swampy water. Although Turquoise Duro was the bigger duel avatar of the two, Klein Apprentice fought dirty; he buried his knee into Duro's abdomen and soft, unprotected areas, and grabbed handfuls of mud and earth and smashed it into Duro's face.

Their grunts and cries could be heard all over the stage, especially the tall tree where Mikiseki had perched herself, where she spectated their 'duel' from a safe spot. She shook her head as Gunsou headbutted Jun forcefully with a earsplitting CRACK.

"BOYS!" she shouted, "Please stop! Isn't that enough?"

Momentarily confused by Mikiseki's plea, Jun and Gunsou exchanged glances and mutual disgust. Shoving each other away, Gunsou wiped the dirt from his eyes while Jun tried to clean his soiled robes in the clearest-looking swamp he could find.

Working her way from branch to branch, made her way down and hopped onto a harmless-looking lotus leaf. She dusted her hands and began to speak.

"Gunsou, this is Jun Ichijo. He is my 'Parent,' the one who gave me Brain Burst a few weeks ago. Jun, meet Gunsou Kihara, my Ch- Child," she gestured towards Gunsou.

Jun looked at Gunsou and scowled. Stiffly, he bowed very slightly, never taking his eyes off Gunsou. Likewise, Gunsou barely dipped his armoured head as he bowed, and as he got up he spat some dirt that was still in his mouth at Jun's feet. Neither of them said anything in the moment of silence that followed.

"So Gunsou, I suppose you're wondering why Mikiseki gave you Brain Burst?" Jun said, clearly masking his dislike, "The situation is rather easy to understand, I hope. Level Three players like myself are currently battling other players to earn five hundred Burst Points to advance to Level Four. Although you win ten Points for every victory, losing a duel at higher Levels will reward everyone equally with more Points. Thus..."

Jun sighed heavily and shook his head. "A strong player called 'Guardsman Railgun' has been gaining lots of Points by fighting Tag Teams of two players at a time, and earning twenty Points per duel. Even I can't take him down in a duel, and at this rate, he's going to hit Level Four first."

"What's so special about Level Four, huh? What's it to you?" Gunsou asked. He hardly knew Jun or Mikiseki, but they expected him to help a bruised ego? _Jun should go solve it himself!_ He thought.

"'What's in it for me?'" Jun repeated, "It's simple."

Jun drew back his leg. Before Gunsou realised what was happening, Jun had turned and-

_BAM!_

-delivered a high kick to Gunsou's jaw. Despite his armour, Gunsou's vision swam and he staggered backwards until he hit a tree; and then Jun drove the blunt point of his wooden sword into his throat. "I don't kill you," he snarled, "Or Mikiseki either, as long as you help me. The game sent a message to say specifically there was a new ability and a command you can use at Level Four. If nothing stopped me from doing so, I would break both your necks right here and now."

He let go of Gunsou and sheathed his sword by his side. Gunsou rubbed his aching neck and stared at Mikiseki; she glumly shook her head and stared at her feet, arms behind her back.

"Brain Burst means everything to me," Jun continued to speak, "It's my grades, my kendo, my life. It's so useful, I can't think about not using it anymore. And the two of you are going to help me," he declared, "And in return I'll teach you how to make full use of every day for the rest of your life. Y'know the saying, 'Every man has 24 hours to use in a day'? Well that just changed."

"That's just wrong," Gunsou muttered, "You're not using your own abilities to solve your own problems."

Jun stepped up close to Gunsou. "You don't understand. I'm giving you a gift!"

"And Mikiseki said this was to help you." Gunsou replied coldly.

Jun shrugged. "Suit yourself then. And by the way, I win. «Snake Bite»!"

Jun's fully-filled green Special Gauge depleted, and his sword glowed bright purple. Before Gunsou could even open his mouth, Jun had lunged forwards, sword in hand as he yelled. Twin bright lances of purple filled his eyes.

**[YOU LOSE!]**

Everything had begun to fade to black just when Gunsou understood what had happened. A large window appeared before him and a giant number ' **98** ' ticked down to **'91** '. Before it disappeared too, Gunsou saw that it was titled "Burst Points Remaining" in plain text.

 _91 Points to go_ , he grimly thought. His senses returned to the real world, where seconds ago Jun had met them in the library. Nothing else had changed: Misawa was looking at Jun and Mikiseki with a look of bemusement, Mikiseki herself was still bowing her head in shame, and Jun was assuming the expression of one who had encountered a particularly repulsive mess. Standing his ground, Gunsou puffed out his chest and stared icily at Jun. He hadn't quite forgotten the sensation of mud in his eyes.

"So..." Gunsou began.

Jun snorted. "Hmmph. I hope you will consider my offer, Kihara Gunsou. We will meet again." With that, he turned on the spot and left the way he came. Mikiseki got to her feet as well, and she quietly muttered something that sounded like an apology as she scurried away.

"What the heck was all that?" Misawa asked, utterly perplexed. She tugged at Gunsou's sleeve while he continued to stare at Jun's back. "What just happened, and why- aren't- you- saying- anything?"

Snapping back to his senses, Gunsou tugged his arm out of Misawa's vise grip. As his English teacher might have said, the game was up. "I don't know where to start, Misawa. I'll tell you later tonight."

"You'd better," she grumbled "A lot of strange things have been happening!"

...

The children gathered in Misawa's room that evening, and Gunsou slowly recounted everything from the beginning. How Mikiseki had guilted him into installing Brain Burst, the experience of Acceleration, and his duel with Jun / Klein Apprentice right before her eyes earlier today. Misawa listened patiently, sipping her tea, and only seeming mildly surprised when Gunsou mentioned his Direct Connection to Mikiseki.

The only part Gunsou had omitted in his recount was the details of his nightmare. It was probably unnecssary to include that part in, and besides he had no clear idea as to how it was connected to Brain Burst.

Misawa was silent for a few moments when he finished. She slowly put her mug of tea down and stared at Gunsou meaningfully. "Let's see if I got this right," she said, holding up three fingers. "One, this game called 'Brain Burst' lets you use Acceleration, and I can't use it myself or see you use it until you play for awhile?"

Gunsou nodded. "Uh, but actually I don't think you would even know I'm using it unless we're..."

"Two, Mikiseki and Jun are also playing this game, and want you to help them out," Misawa continued without waiting for Gunsou, "Either by fighting someone else or just giving yourself up."

"That's... Yeah, that's right." he sighed.

"And three, it sounds to me like you want to keep playing, isn't it?" Misawa narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. Gunsou swallowed nervously and nodded.

"Gunsou, for the love of all that is holy, please stop. I don't see this ending well for you, even if I've not played it myself." Misawa frowned as she said. "Don't you know how important school is? That at the end of middle school, we'll be legal adults? You've got to grow some responsibility, and no amount of game-playing is going to do that!"

Gunsou winced. Misawa sounded like his mother, and if there was one thing he hated about his mother, it was Mayumi's insistence on telling him what was good for him. Everything she talked about always ended up at the same old thing - his father!

He tried to keep his face as neutral as possible. "I know what you're talking about, Misawa," he said, "But just relax! I know what I'm doing and I'll stop playing when things get too hairy. It's a pretty good game anyway."

Silence fell upon them. Shifting to the side, Gunsou leaned his head back against Misawa's bed. It was wonderfully soft, bringing back old memories when they still had sleepovers. It was years ago, though, when Misawa had begun to turn down his requests.

Suddenly, Misawa nudged Gunsou's shoulder. "Hey Gunsou. You know about my mum, but didn't I ever tell you about my dad?"

Gunsou blinked, and then flushed bright red in shame. How could he have forgotten? Misawa's family had collectively disowned her father for being addicted to games and abandoning his pregnant wife. Misawa had thus experienced a very similar upbringing to him - single parent, bad father, and somewhat dependent on others. It was one of the reasons why they clicked, after all. With the mess he had gotten into with Brain Burst, the story of Misawa's father was never more relevant. But why did she want to bring him up?

"I-I'm listening," he stammered. "I forgot, but now that you mentioned it..."

Misawa frowned and crossed her arms. "You're terrible for forgetting that. I told you long ago that Dad - my dad disappeared because he couldn't stop playing those games, and now he's in the rehabilitation centres for those. I would hate you if you went the same way," she said.

"I'm sorry, Misawa." he held his head. Uncrossing her arms, Misawa reached over for a jug of water and refilled their mugs. She held out his mug for him as she continued.

"That's not the point. The lesson I want to remind you of is that you need to start taking responsibility. Like, don't you clean your room? That was so last year; you need to take charge of yourself." she said.

"But I won't get addicted to Brain Burst, Misawa!" Gunsou argued. "I know what I'm doing, and after I'm done helping I'll probably uninstall it. Isn't that taking responsibility?" Part of him wanted to add on the fact that Acceleration meant all duels and uses of Brain Burst were literally taking place in less than a few seconds. Her dad had gotten in trouble for playing those virtual reality MMOs, the kind that involved endless levelling up and fighting variations of the same old monsters, for days on end.

"That's what he said," Misawa said. "Mama told me he always said that before logging on for another few hours at a stretch, and never made it for dinner on time."

Gunsou put down his cup and sighed. The two situations couldn't be more different, and while he had never met the man, Gunsou was dead sure he was completely unlike him too. How was this relevant to him, then? All Gunsou just wanted was to have some fun, after all; besides Misawa, there didn't seem to be anything in particular that he looked forwards to...

 _...What the hell did I just think about?_ Gunsou nearly spilled his water in surprise, and yet he knew it to be true. His father was gone, his mother was a shadow of her former self, and for all that he had said about games, they rarely held his interest for more than a month. In his life, Misawa was the only constant, the one person he could always depend on for support.

And just as he thought of that, Misawa got up on her knees and placed her hands on his shoulders. She was too close, she would surely see the blush creeping across his face. His heart hammered against his chest while her hands firmly gripped him. As she determinedly locked gazes with him, Gunsou withered under her gaze; the atmosphere was getting very thick and tense. Was she waiting for him to say something?

"I would hate you if you went his way, Gunsou," she spoke with steel in her voice. "Trust me, it won't work out how you want it to."

"I-I got it. I'll uninstall the game after a week, okay?" Gunsou looked down, unable to withstand the strength of Misawa's stare. But rather than leave it at that, Misawa prodded his cheek and made him look up. _There was no way she wouldn't notice I'm blushing_ , he thought.

"That's not what I want you to do!" she said. "Just take responsibility for your actions, okay?"

"Okay, Misawa." he said quietly. Satisfied, Misawa got up with a smile and left her room.

He anxiously massaged his chest. _What is this feeling?_ he thought _._

"Gunsou!" Misawa called from the living room, "Let's have dinner! Help me set the table, okay?"

Once more, he jumped at the sound of her voice, and judging from the sensation, so had his pulse. "Y-Yeah, I'll be right there!" he replied.

Gunsou went straight for the bathroom instead. He locked the door and turned the tap to its maximum, splashing cold water on his face. Only when he saw in the mirror that his face was no longer apple-red then did he turn off the tap and towel his face dry.

Was this him having feelings for Misawa? _'Surely not!'_ was his immediate reaction, but that in no way explained his reaction. He had been thinking rather logically, in fact, until he had finished that line of thought. He recalled an old internet joke: if your mother and your girlfriend were drowning in a lake, who would you save if you could only rescue one?

The fact that his mind dwelled rather heavily on Misawa over his mother made him feel very uneasy. It didn't even sound fair when he knew Misawa was probably better than him at swimming, and therefore he was making the most irrational choice possible.

It was hardly like him at all, and it continued to eat at him for the rest of the evening. When he eventually bid her goodbye and returned home, all he could think about was Misawa, Misawa, Misawa. Even as he lay in bed, he continued to think about older, fonder memories when they had played together. He looked through old photos on his Neuro Linker, watching her grow up from a little girl into a young woman. At least, he was risking a precious friend if he continued to play Brain Burst. At the worst...his chest ached at the thought. Shaking his head, Gunsou removed his Neuro Linker from his neck and tugged his thin blanket closer; he still had to go to school, just like Misawa wanted him to do.

It was only on the brink of sleep did it occur to Gunsou that he had not even thought about Mikiseki, not even once.

...

**to be continued.**

...


	5. Incertus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incertus
> 
> 1\. uncertain, doubtful, not sure
> 
> 2\. not knowing, doubting (said of persons)

 

**Thursday, April 14, 2039 AD**

* * *

The morning came too quickly for Gunsou. Having tossed and turned in bed all night, it had felt like he had barely closed his eyes when the rays of the rising sun poked at his eyes and forced him out of bed. While he scarfed down a quick breakfast, his mother had sent him a message yesterday that she would be working late today and he would have to settle his own dinner. Well, it was just like last week, so no biggie about it, unless he had dinner with Misawa-

Well apparently that would be the problem, after all. He still had not forgotten the awkward terms they had parted on last night. Just as he closed and locked his door - lo and behold, Misawa stepped out of her own front door, buttered toast in mouth while she pulled on her shoes. The instant he caught sight of her, Gunsou turned away and pretended to tie his shoes, so that she wouldn't see his face.

"Morning, Gunsou," Misawa said, her words slightly muffled by the toast. "Lil' late, aren't you?"

"Y-yeah," Gunsou struggled reply as innocently-sounding as he could, "Didn't sleep well last night."

"Is that so?" Misawa asked as she turned to look at Gunsou. "Are you alright? Boy, you look like a wreck!" she exclaimed.

Gunsou shook his head. "I'll be fine. A little less sleep won't kill me, y'know?" He got up and the two of them walked together to the bus stop.

Grey clouds hung low in the skies, threatening to satisfy the weatherman's prediction for morning showers. As the crowd huddled underneath the shelter of the bus stop, Gunsou looked around at the familiar morning crowd while Misawa searched her bag. A moment later, she sighed and turned to him: "Have you got your umbrella?"

"Yeah- what, why? Oh." The realisation clicked and Gunsou was visited by a strange thought - he and Misawa, sharing a folding umbrella while they walked through the rain...

"I must've left it in my other bag or something. Oh well, whatever. Yours is big enough for the two of us, right?" Misawa asked. Her eyebrow rose in expectation.

"What, you think I'm still using the old yellow one?" Gunsou said, "I threw it away ages ago. I've got a bigger one now-"

_SLAM!_

His blood turned to ice. Of all the times, why was he being Challenged now!

The world faded to black and the unfamiliar comfort of his new avatar settled in. This time, the stage looked like a network of bridges above a clear blue sea, though dark shapes could be seen in the water. From where Gunsou was standing at the edge of one 'bridge,' he was uncomfortably close to the water. He swallowed nervously and turned to look for his opponent.

A window appeared in the centre of his vision: 'First Win of the Day BONUS!' it read. Apparently, Gunsou could earn double the Burst Points if he won this battle. His opponent's name fell from the sky and slid into place at the top of his vision: Guardsman Railgun.

"Who's this, a new guy?" An unfamiliar voice spoke clearly from somewhere.

Gunsou whirled around: not one, but three different duel avatars were perched on a balcony of a nearby building! But these people seemed different; they looked more friendly and judging from the way their hands were tapping thin air, they were accessing menus of their own.

"'Turquoise Duro?' I've never seen you before!" The dark-green female avatar said. The others, apparently friends of hers, nodded as they closed their menus. The tallest of them, a bluish-purple avatar holding a spear, craned his neck forwards to get a good look at Gunsou, while a small, metallic avatar in their middle continued to look at a small computer he was holding.

"My my, he's a Level 1 newbie," the metallic player was saying, "It doesn't look good for him. Railgun is one of the most powerful veterans out there; he's never lost a fight to anyone new before. Good luck, new guy!"

_They're...spectators?_ Gunsou wondered. 'T-Thank you!" he called out in reply.

"Hey, you. You actually bother talking to them?"

A sleek, red robot wearing a baseball cap quietly stepped out from behind the wreck of a car. As he turned to face the newcomer, Gunsou's eyes instantly fell upon the absurdly large cannon that seemed to be built right into his arm! There was no doubt about it - this was his opponent, Guardsman Railgun. Gunsou instinctively brought his hands up in a protective stance and lowered his head.

"Ah well, it's not like they matter anyway. Let's get on with it!" his opponent said.

With a flick of his 'arm,' a bolt _clacked_ into place and iron sights flipped up from his weapon. In one smooth motion, Railgun aims the gun at Gunsou's face and pulls the trigger-

_Bang!_ It's not the gunshot that Gunsou hears, but the sickening _thud!_ as he is bodily thrown backwards, into a crumbling block of concrete, and flipped over it like a rag doll. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs, and Gunsou swore he could see stars.

_Clack-clack._ The mere sound sent terror down his spine, forcing Gunsou to his feet, and sending him running for cover. Another gunshot split the air - a pothole where Gunsou's foot had been a mere fraction of a second earlier promptly exploded and opened up into a huge pit!

Gunsou shuddered, and he glanced at the Health Gauges. That single shot from Guardsman Railgun had taken out a considerable chunk of his health, and his arms hurt and stung where he had blocked the round. All the odds were stacked against him; his opponent was stronger, more clever, and knew more to this game than he did. "Can't you cut me a break?" He yelled in frustration, "This is so unfair!"

Guardsman's reply in kind was to blast the wall Gunsou was hiding behind with a third round, powerful enough to nudge him forwards and causing deep cracks to appear in the concrete. As dust filled the air, Gunsou peeked out and saw Guardsman Railgun reaching for a pouch on his waist; he extracted three large bullets, each the size of his finger, and slotted them into his gun one by one.

Gunsou turned back to his hiding spot. When Guardsman Railgun finished shooting, he'd have to try to attack him. But how could he get Railgun to use up his bullets? Railgun's earlier attack had obliterated the road surface besides him, and several large chunks, almost as large as a basketball, were within arm's reach. But Gunsou was going to have to come out from his cover to get it. Counting to five in his head, Gunsou tensed up, and then dashed forwards, trying to run as low as he could.

_Bang!_ The concrete barrier exploded and was reduced to powder. Gunsou grabbed the hunk of asphalt and heaved, lifting it to his chest and running for the safety of an abandoned car. As quickly as it had started, Railgun's weapon fell silent, and he paused to reload.

In Gunsou's mind, he could already see the perfect plan: he'd throw the basketball-sized rock at Railgun, watch him frantically try to shoot it out of the air, and fail. Then all he'd need to do was to quickly close the distance and pummel his opponent into submission. But fear kept him down. His legs quaked and his head throbbed with every beat of his heart. Would it work? What if he failed? What if Guardsman Railgun simply killed him?

Guardsman Railgun finished loading his weapon with a loud click. Gunsou twitched - hesitated for a second - and then jumped straight up, hurling the rock at the red figure with all his strength.

"What the-?" Twin thunderclaps immediately split his ears as Railgun backpedalled, firing as he went. The first round went wide - passing Gunsou's ear with a _zing!_ \- but the second round was true and dispersed the asphault into a thousand fragments. The dust enveloped Guardsman Railgun and he held up his arm to shield his eyes.

_Now!_ Gunsou charged. His feet gouged into the crumbling road as he took huge strides, grateful for his increased strength. In a few bounds, he closed the distance and lept - landing squarely on his target and pushing him into the ground!

Both fighters tumbled end over end, and Gunsou found his smaller opponent sitting on his chest. He quickly shoved Railgun over, knocking his head against a small pile of rubble, and punched him in the chest. _Wham! Wham! Crunch!_ \- Railgun had brought up his arm to block the incoming strike. Still straddling his foe, Gunsou raised his right arm, making a fist and feeling its weight double with extra armour.

"Get off me! « _Certain Death Railgun_ »!"

_Too late,_ Gunsou realised, as he watched the glowing barrel being shoved into his chest-

_BOOM!_ Everything went black.

How much time had passed? When Gunsou came to, he was lying on his back and completely drained of energy. He gritted his teeth and tasted iron. Blood? In a game? As Gunsou blinked to clear his vision, he became aware of a red silhouette standing above him - Guardsman Railgun, still alive. And probably the winner already. But he was hunched over, leaning on his arm-weapon for support, and Gunsou slowly realised that his once-proud opponent was in a sorry state. Great chunks of his duel avatar were shattered, covered in grit, or entirely missing. His own helmet was missing the baseball cap from earlier, revealing a plain, bald head.

"That kid has done it! Well done, Turquoise Duro!" Someone cheered from a distance. From his view on the ground it was rather difficult to see, but he spotted the same dark green duel avatar in the distance, waving and cheering alongside a group of other players. The rest who weren't openmouthed in admiration were busy booing his opponent. Gunsou craned his neck, and then he saw the Gauges: both he and Guardsman Railgun were low, so low their bars had turned red and only slivers remained.

"Ahh...so close." he groaned. His remark earned the ire of his opponent, and Railgun glared at him.

"This is still your loss, a-hole. Say goodbye." He staggered as he raised the barrel of his weapon and aimed it at Gunsou's ruined chest. As the timer ticked down and birds flew in the virtual sky overhead, Gunsou wondered why he felt so calm.

_Bang!_ The blue sky turned white.

**[YOU LOSE!]**

_...74 Points to go_ , Gunsou thought grimly. And in the blink of an eye, he was back - under an overcast morning, a crowded bus stop, and Misawa staring at him, waiting for an answer to a question he forgot-

"Ow!" Gunsou clutched his chest and ground his teeth. It felt as though a spike had been driven through his chest - or more accurately, someone had fired a gun into it. But why did it still hurt? Wasn't the game over?

"Gunsou! You alright?" Misawa had grabbed his shoulder and shook him. A few curious onlookers had turned their way, but most of the crowd simply ignored them, too absorbed in their Neuro Linkers to realise what was happening.

Gunsou took her hand off his shoulder, taking in deep breaths. "I'm fine, Misawa, it's alright. It's just-" he dropped his voice and gaze, too guilty to look her in the eyes, "Well, someone challenged me. To a fight, I mean, and I just lost." As if to voice his bitterness, his chest throbbed in a particularly painful way, prompting Gunsou to hug his chest tightly. Misawa fixed him with a critical eye and frowned. "It's that game, isn't it? Not looking like such a good idea now, huh?"

Gunsou could only shrug. Fortunately, the bus arrived, and the two children queued up to board the bus. It was jam-packed with the morning crowd, and Gunsou found himself rubbing shoulders with Misawa on the left and an office worker on the right. The air was a strange mix of the dampness of impending rain, the bus' air-conditioning, and the various fragrances and perfumes the adults wore. More people boarded the bus and forced Gunsou closer to Misawa; Gunsou grabbed the handhold for support as the bus began to move. The bus wasn't moving all that fast, but the swaying of the crowd forced Gunsou to follow their rhythm, bring him uncomfortably close to Misawa. He could already feel the creeping heat in his face; there was no way she couldn't notice it.

He didn't think too much of it when a hand brushed across his waist. But when it happened again - a fleeting scratch, almost a tickle of his belly, he turned and saw a grinning Misawa. How dare she make fun of him like this! With a impish smile, Misawa poked him hard, and it took all of Gunsou's resolve to not jump a foot in the air and land on the many leather shoes around him.

"Stop that, Misawa!" he whispered, afraid that others would see what was happening, "It's really- ticklish!"

Misawa giggled as Gunsou squirmed, twirling her finger in circles and watched as Gunsou turned beet red from the strain. Just as he opened his mouth, Misawa shushed him and withdrew her hand at last. Gunsou took deep breaths, glaring daggers at Misawa. "You... Don't ever do that again..."

"Then promise me something, Gunsou," Misawa said, "Stop playing the game." Her smile fell faster than Gunsou's stomach could drop. "Listen to me - that game isn't good for you! Uninstall it soon, okay?"

_Damn it,_ Gunsou thought, _Mikiseki plays dirty, but Misawa is the worst!_ Lowering his gaze to his shoes, he nodded.

...

The rain had just arrived in full force by the time Gunsou and Misawa reached their respective classrooms. The moment Gunsou sat down at his table, he received a message from a familiar sender:

[Mikiseki]: I heard about what happened. CONGRATS! ❤

[Mikiseki]: Ahh I misclicked! But yeah, well done! That was your first battle but no one has ever been able to give Guardsman Railgun such a hard time!

Gunsou read and reread her messages just in case he was hallucinating. How did she know? Scanning the classroom, Gunsou saw her on the other side, smiling brightly at him. She winked and continued to type.

[Mikiseki]: Word got around fast. There's only a hundred or so players here, and things like beating up Railgun is no small feat. You worked hard!

Gunsou smiled. Or tried to, lifting up a corner of his lips in an attempt to reciprocate Mikiseki's beaming face. He didn't know why he felt like that, he only knew that he wasn't happy with this praise. Wasn't it something he was happy to receive? Didn't he work for a reward? His mother's words came back to him: _make me proud and get some good results, won't you?_

His stomach turned to ice and Gunsou swiped the message window closed. Mrs Yukizuka had just walked in anyway.

But as the day wore on, it was impossible to ignore Mikiseki. Gunsou could ignore her glances, but he couldn't quite stop his gaze from going back to her. What should he tell her? Apologies? Thanks? It was so much easier to not think and just go with the flow.

The lunch bell rang. Intending to give her the slip, Gunsou quietly turned around and hoped that the boys passing by his table would shield him. The moment he stood up, a very familiar hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed in an overly familiar way. "Hey Gunsou!"

Whether he cared to admit it or not, Mikiseki was _still_ a very pretty girl, and Gunsou fought to keep a straight face as he faced her. It felt like a thousand people were watching him and Mikiseki in that moment.

"Do you... Do you want to have lunch together with me?" Mikiseki asked.

A few ears perked up. Mikiseki's friends were watching in the corner of the classroom. Gunsou looked everywhere, wondering who else was looking at him, refusing to meet her insistent gaze. Was he trembling slightly, or was Mikiseki's hand gripping him a tad too tightly? Gunsou felt his ears burn; he looked down at his feet.

"Uh..sorry, Mikiseki. Maybe next time?" He hoped he had said it quietly enough, too soft for anyone else to hear. For a moment, when nothing seemed to have changed, Gunsou believed he had gotten away with it.

"What?!" Several girls cried out in unison. "Impossible!" One of them said, pointing an accusing finger at Gunsou. "How could you reject Mikiseki's kindness, you ungrateful kid!" Every other person in the class stared at him; some in undisguised interest, some in confusion. The weight of every gaze pinned him to the spot; Gunsou was barely conscious of removing Mikiseki's hand from his shoulder.

"T-There's a misunderstanding..." Gunsou stammered, backing into his chair and curling his fingers around it. "I'm okay with going with her to lunch, but it's just, well, not entirely convenient for me at present, so..."

Mikiseki's five girlfriends all raised eyebrows in unison. Not a single one of them was buying it. Gunsou frantically scanned the classroom, looking for one familiar face and finding a dozen unfamiliar people staring back. _This is wrong,_ he thought, _why is this happening to me?_ His face burning in shame, Gunsou turned and walked out of the class, barely maintaining self-control. The moment he thought he was out of earshot, he broke into a run and never looked back.

Had he looked back, Gunsou might have seen Mikiseki grin to herself for a fraction of a second, the kind of smile someone has when everything goes according to plan.

...

Elsewhere in school, a very different kind of plan was being put into action. As a group of boys swung wooden swords, stretched limbs, and checked their scores, Ichijo Jun walked into the hall in his kendo attire, helmet tucked under his arm and wooden sword by his side. Fellow students made way for him as he passed, but their expressions were hardly friendly. Jun paid them no mind as he deposited his schoolbag and proceeded to warm up.

Rumours had been flying thick and fast for the last few weeks among the Mitsukihara Kendo Team. How had this no-namer second-year student gone from average drifter to star player in the space of a few months? Had he hired a private trainer? Downloaded some kendo app? Plausible, but no app could ever replicate the experience of swinging a sword hundreds of times a week, and even the best swordsmen didn't just miraculously learn their skills overnight. Ichijo Jun's rise up the ladder was swift and mysterious, perhaps too much so, and to which the team captain hoped to get to the bottom of in today's 'practice.'

An informal tournament, he had said. The first to three points wins, and their Coach would serve as Judge. The man was pushing seventy - ancient by today's standards to be still teaching in middle schools - but no one had ever heard the man say a false word. If there was anyone they could trust, it was their master, Inoue Kozou.

The only thing Jun regretted was not having come up with a more plausible excuse. His overenthusiastic use of Brain Burst now had to be covered up somehow - it was too suspicious if he could perfectly block every strike and capitalise on every mistake his opponent. He could still cheat, but in a more realistic way. Fortunately for him, he had just the means to do it: beating Gunsou and several other kids yesterday had earned him enough to just reach his goal of five hundred Points - enough to ensure that he had a buffer of a hundred Points to spare when he had Levelled Up. He figured he had nothing to worry about by lying to Mikiseki and Gunsou - why bother telling them the truth?

As it was, Level Four indeed granted him a very special command: Physical Burst. He had tried it once; it was time to use it for real.

Jun pulled the protector over his head and bowed stiffly to his opponent. It was the rookie third-year Ryoutarou - Jun had long ago figured out that he could be flustered easily if constantly pushed back on the defensive. The stone-faced Master Kozou raised his hand, and Jun braced himself.

"Begin!" The old man commanded, and dropped his hand. Jun smiled - swung his sword with a flourish, and the fight was on.

"Physical Burst!" he whispered under his mask. The world turned yellow, and every sound dropped a few octaves, sounding like he was underwater. Jun felt sluggish, trying to move his arms through what felt like molasses, but he understood.

_Physical Burst_ sped up the mind, but kept its connection to the body. Scientists in the last century dubbed this phenomenon 'bullet-time,' when extreme situations and stress pushed the mind to think and react faster than it would ever do anytime else. But thanks to Brain Burst, Jun could activate it on-demand for the low, low price of three Burst Points.

Relying on his own senses, Jun focused on Ryoutarou's eyes. He was still looking at Jun, the tip of his sword beginning to move to Jun's right in anticipation of a strike from that direction. He would never anticipate the feint as Jun pushed his sword into a gentle curve, scraping swords as he aimed for the Ryoutarou's right shoulder.

Jun grinned to himself. This was going to be so easy!

...

He had broken a sweat. His arm was slightly numb from where the Team Captain had dealt a heavy blow to his guard, and Jun allowed himself to break posture, displaying the picture perfect example of a fatigued fighter. But on the side of the hall, no less than eight seniors knelt with bowed heads - eight consecutive battles, and eight consecutive wins. Jun knew all of their weaknesses, when to play safe and when to strike, and had outwitted, outsmarted, and outduelled all of them.

It had only cost him forty-eight Burst Points anyway!

With a final _crack_ of wood on leather, Jun tagged the team captain on his armguard, earned his final point, and prompted Kozou to step in and declare the match over. As he sheathed his wooden sword, Jun couldn't help but smirk at the defeated Team Captain, a lean boy his height, named Nagisa Yuuichi.

"This isn't over," Nagisa growled between clenched teeth, "You won't go anywhere with that attitude of yours, Ichijo."

Jun would have laughed in his face if not for the fact that their coach was just nearby. "You won't be bringing the school any awards this year either, if you hold such an attitude towards your underclassmen, Nagisa." Jun chuckled to himself as he watched Nagisa's face twitch in irritation.

The rest of the day was forgettable; Jun had more important work to do. He wasn't going to be walking around with just forty-five Points left, he'd make himself a walking target. He needed his First Win of the Day, and he knew who exactly to get it from.

In the privacy of the locker room - no one wanted to use it while he was there anyway - Jun opened the list of available combatants: within the school network, there were only two options anyway. He mused over his choices: should he find the newcomer and continue their fight from where he left off? Certainly an attractive idea with no real risk. But on the other hand, if he challenged Mikiseki, maybe he could pry some more information out of her. And she made for a more exciting opponent. Jun made up his mind, selected a name, and hit 'DUEL.'

_Wham!_ The locker room froze and turned electric blue.

...

**to be continued.**

...


End file.
